Minolta Vest
The Minolta Vest (ミノルタ・ヴェスト) was a bakelite camera taking both 4×6.5cm and 3×4cm exposures on 127 film. It was made by Molta (later Minolta) from 1934, and it was still advertised in 1938. The name Minolta was embossed in the leather covering, on one side. It is said on various websites that it was the first camera to bear the Minolta name, but the book by Francesch indicates that it was preceded by the 1932 Semi Minolta (a copy of the Ikonta A) and the 1933 Minolta I (a near copy of the Makina I). The lens and shutter assembly was mounted on a front plate, itself attached to a collapsible structure composed of three rectangular sliding boxes. The result was like a folding camera, with no bellows. This system was later used on the Minolta Six 6×6 camera. There was a standing leg, that could be folded in the front plate. There was also a folding frame finder, with indications for both 4×6.5 and 3×4 formats. The back had two red windows to use the two formats. The shutter was a Marble everset, with T, B, 25-50-100 dialset speeds, with detail variations in the shutter plate design. It was always marked MARBLE, but sometimes it was also marked PATENTS NIPPON, and sometimes there was a logo with MTS in a circle. Two body variants are known, with various lenses: * centered finder, advance knob opposite the finder ** 75/8 Aplanat, fixfocus, PATENTS NIPPON on top, MARBLE at the bottom, MTS logo on the right (pictured in Francesch) ** 75/8 Coronar Anastigmat, fixfocus, MARBLE in the speed dial, MTS logo on the right, decorative patterns (pictured in Francesch, also observed elsewhere) ** 75/5.6 Coronar Anastigmat Nippon, front cell focusing, PATENTS NIPPON on top, MARBLE at the bottom, MTS logo on the right (seen at a Yahoo Japan auction with the advance knob at the bottom) ** 75/4.5 Coronar Anastigmat Nippon, front cell focusing, PATENTS NIPPON on top, MARBLE at the bottom, decorative lines (pictured in Francesch and seen at an eBay auction with the advance knob at the bottom, seen at a Yahoo Japan auction with a black advance knob on top) * finder offset to the left, accessory shoe at the right, advance knob on the same side, on the right ** 75/5.6 Coronar Anastigmat Nippon, front cell focusing, PATENTS NIPPON on top, MARBLE at the bottom, MTS logo on the right (pictured in Francesch) The Minolta Vest was distributed by the company Asanuma Shōkai. It appeared in a catalogue from Asanuma Shōkai, date unknown, in two variants, one of them with a f:5.6 lens, with a price of ¥19.50 yen or ¥28, case in supplement. It was advertised in the 23 Mar 1938 issue of Asahi Graph (ad visible on this page), together with the Minolta Flex, Semi Minolta and Auto Semi Minolta. It was also advertised in the Oct 1939 issue of Asahi Camera (ad visible on this page), in three versions with a fixfocus or focusing lens, from ¥23 to ¥41, case not included. The Minolta Vest name The name observed on all the advertisements and catalogues is Minolta Vest, mostly written ミノルタ・ヴェスト (minoruta vesuto) in katakana writing, and sometimes written "Minolta Vest" in Roman writing. It is sometimes said that the Minolta Vest was also called "Minolta Marble". This is probably a confusion with the name written on the shutter plate. It is also called "Minolta Best" by some people, including McKeown. It is maybe a transcription of ミノルタ・ベスト, but this form does not seem to have been used by the company. In Japan at the time, the 127 film was called "Vest film" because of the Vest Pocket Kodak, and written ベスト・フィルム (besuto firumu), because the letter "V" was rarely used in Japanese writing at the time. However, even when the camera name contained ベスト (besuto) the roman writing was always Vest. Bibliography * Links * The Manual Minolta website, with a page about the Minolta folding cameras and a page about the 127 film Minolta cameras * The Minolta Vest in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology * The Minolta Vest at the Kitamura camera site * Old Japanese ads, including the Minolta range with a Minolta Vest * Other Japanese ads, including the Minolta Vest Category: Japanese 4x6.5 viewfinder Category: Bakelite Vest Category: M Vest, Minolta